Monthly Archives: September 2016

Australia’s Grand Final in Australian Rules Football isthe same as our own football Super Bowl. It is a bigevent in both nations. The Super Bowl has signed nationalanthem, but not that so in Australia. Deaf Australianshave filed a complaint with the Australian Human RightsCommission because of refusal of Australian RulesFootball (AFL) officers to allow an interpreter.And the AFL people managed to delay the hearinguntil December after the Grand Final is over!Why did AFL refuse an intepreter? They refusedto explain why! A picture is at:

Wales, a small nation that belongs to theUnited Kingdom, would not allow a group ofdeaf activists to establish their ownpolitical party. The National Assembly forWales said this type of political partycannot be registered with the government.The deaf people of Wales have beencomplaining for years on same issues –no jobs, no education, no captions, nonothing!

— Critics hate deaf actor in ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame’

Actor John McGinty is deaf and uses ASL. He usedASL as the Quasimodo in the play ‘Hunchback of NotreDame’. Instead of praising the creativity of theplay, the critics were nasty about it! Theysaid sign language ruins the play. Really, itdoes not matter because critics love tocriticize, no matter how great any play orany movie is.

An emergency responder (EMT) said that when they cometo the accident scene, one of the first things theymust know – was the injured driver wearing a CI!He said that there have been deaf drivers thathave lost their CI during an accident. Withouta CI these deaf drivers may not be able to communicatewith the EMT people. A picture is at:

Magnolia Hotel Denver, supposedly a fancy hotel, said that theyhave four deaf devices for use by deaf guests. What is going tohappen when the fifth deaf guest checks in, asks for deafdevices and there is none! Will the panicked hotel front deskclerk run to the next hotel and beg to borrow their deafdevice? Or would the clerk say, sorry we have none?

— importance of deaf tourists

How important are deaf tourists? Very importantsays Derek Andre Hanekom, the South AfricanMinister of Tourism! He wants all South Africanplaces of attraction to be 100 percent deaf-friendly.Do other tourist officials everywhere else in theworld say that deaf tourists are important? No.DeafDigest thanks Minister Hanekom for sayingthat deaf tourists are important.

Marlee Matlin, in her long acting career, has nearly60 acting credits. Her most famous role, that peopletalk about from time to time, was not her Oscar-winningmovie. It was Seinfield’s deaf Laura character, who wasthought to be able to lipread someone from across theroom at a crowded party (The Lip Reader – 1993). CarolLeifer, not deaf, wrote the script and the castingpeople needed a young deaf woman for that role, andso, Marlin was it! A picture is at:

Hillary Clinton debated Donald Trump on TV onMonday night. Was she playing a trick? Therewere people that noticed she was wearing somethinginside her ear. Was it an “invisible” hearingaid? Of course Hillary refused to explain whatit was when she was questioned about it bythe media!

— too lazy to look for the subtitled film

The movie – Bridget Jones’s Baby – was shown atthe Grant’s Entertainment Centre in Croydon,a neigbhorhood in London. The movie ad in thenewspapers said it was subtitled. As a result,nearly 20 deaf people showed up. The moviewas not subtitled at all, making these deafpeople angry. The theater manager said hecould not find a subtitled copy of thatmovie, even though it was advertised. Hewas not telling the truth, because he didn’treally look around for it, just being toolazy.

A deaf man was vacationing in London and stayed at ahotel. The TV in the hotel lobby showed captions.The TV in his room showed no captions – of thesame program! Something funny going on? Apicture is at:

an oralist deaf person, knowing no signs, dependson lipreading. At a meeting, that deaf personsat in the front row and watched the lips ofall speakers. One speaker didn’t like being“stared” at by the deaf lipeader and accusedhim of being rude. Anyway that hearing speakerturned his back to the lipreader for the restof his speech!

— nearly 170 people were arrested

In Bangalore, India, a rapid transit officer wassuspicious when a bus ticket looked like a fake,shown by a non-disabled passenger. That passengertried to fake his deafness. The officer thenasked for the disability certificate. Thecertificate showed a stamped seal but withwrong spelling. It should be spelled “DisabledWelfare Officer, Bangalore Urban district”but the wrong word was used. Instead of “urban”it was spelled “Croan.” The fake-deaf passengerwas arrested and after further questioning, itwas learned that many such fake certificateswere distributed. Eventually nearly 170passengers carrying these fake certificateswere arrested!

A hearing school in Australia does not permitstudents to clap their hands. They are, however,permitted to wave their hands – as in Deaf Applause.Hearing school hate hearing students? No. Thisschool has some hearing students that aresensitive to noise from loud clapping, and toprotect them, clapping is not allowed! A pictureis at:

A deaf woman and her three hearing friends entereda Pittsburgh bar. All four of them ordered drinks.The bartender served three hearing friends butrefused to serve the deaf woman! Making it worsewas that these three hearing friends would nottell the bartender to please serve the deaf woman!Yes, the deaf woman was angry about it, feelingthat these hearing people were “fake” friends.

— a sad piece of Deaf History in Rome

There is a sad piece of Deaf History in Romethat very few deaf people know about. NotRome, Italy, but Rome, New York. A deafman owned a restaurant in downtown Rome.This restaurant was considered to be thebest in the city. The city officials thoughta shopping mall would be much better thanthese downtown stores, and agreed to haveit demolished. As a result, the downtowndeaf-owned restaurant was wiped out.

If someone wants to build a new and big football stadium –
there are a lot of hassles. Must get approvals and permits for
construction, environmental study, traffic study, economic
impact, neighborhood association approval, etc, etc. Often
takes many months to get all permits approved. And there
are lawsuits by those that don’t want a stadium.
A permit for a small clubhouse permit for a deaf club
easy to get?
No. Same thing. Same hassles just like a football
stadium.
It is hard to believe.

Sometimes it is hard to tell if a friendly hearing
person is popular with his hearing friends.
This hearing person is very friendly with the deaf,
always smiling, always joking, always cheerful, etc.
But if many hearing people hate him and don’t tell you
about it, then it can be awkward sometimes!

According to Andrew Zimmern, the famous food hostwith Bizarre Foods, the Twin Cities area isa hot area to try new and different meals. Andwe do have a deaf chef in the Twin Cities area(Minneapolis/St Paul). It is Kendall Kailwho operates his own Ward 6 retaurantin St. Paul. He worked as chef at differentrestaurants for years until he landed hisjob at the Ward 6 restaurant. See the picture at:

$. And today, Uber has announced a partnership withCanadian Hearing Society to hire more deaf driversacross Canada.

What is next with Uber? Good news or bad news?

— Comcast joins a Deaf Club

Comcast joining a Deaf Club? Well, it was justlearned that the Comcast CEO has a deaf daughter.As a result, the CEO has given $25 millionto the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.That hospital works with CI children.

Let us look at past “members” of the Deaf Club:

1. Past CEO of a national restaurant chain.His son is deaf, and he was supportive ofmen’s basketball at Gallaudet, as the sonplayed this sport. When he graduated,the CEO no longer supported Gallaudet.

2. Past officer of a big Washington, DCsupermarket chain. He has donated a lotof money to local deaf clubs and deafagencies. Not any more, since the fatherretired and the son grew up.

3. Big movie star. His son was deaf. Hehad nothing to do with the son, but thewife helped establish an oral schoolfor the deaf.

So, everytime we see a CEO or a VIPwith a deaf child, it is always interestingto see what they would do to help (or not)the deaf!